It is commonly known to use conveying systems with a number of tube systems wherein items are sent from a dispatch station to a receiver station by means of vacuum or pressurised air. Typically, an elongated capsule is sent which is provided with sealing rings at each end and where the cross-section of the tube system is filled by the capsule in this way.
The capsule thereby acts as a plug which is conveyed in a long tube system. In the capsule there is typically provided the item to be transported to the desired destination. Such systems are known as so-called pneumatic dispatch systems and have been used for a long time in connection with internal post or similar in large buildings. However, by such systems there is the inexpediency that several items cannot be sent in immediate succession just like that.
This is due to the fact that the systems are closed systems and that the capsule will stop underway in the tube system if the closed system receives “false air”. In order to be able to send capsules as quickly as possible in succession, various systems have been developed. Some systems have been provided with an indicator showing when a capsule arrives at the receiver station and thereby that the system is ready for use again. Also, there are variants of pneumatic dispatch system that are divided into different sections, each having its own vacuum or blowing mechanism, allowing a new capsule to be dispatched as soon as the recently dispatched capsule has passed a given position in the tube system.
However, such solutions all depend on the item to be transported to be put into a capsule and then to be dispatched. Also, it is necessary to take the item out of the capsule at the other end of the system. This means that resources are to be used both for packing items and for unpacking items. If approximately the same number of capsules are sent both ways, the problem of an accumulated number of capsules at a receiver station and a lacking number of capsules at a dispatch station is solved, but in far the most cases there will be a need for distribution of capsules to the respective dispatch stations, requiring additional resources.
EP 2483186 B1 discloses a general transport system where items can be dispatched in succession and where there is no need of providing the item in a capsule prior to dispatching, where the transport system includes a tube system with internal diameter, a dispatch station and a receiver station, and where a connection for pressurised air is provided at the dispatch station.
However, there are not specific transport systems for blood samples or methods for transporting blood samples in a tube system where the physical dimensions and/or the weight of the blood sample are/is checked, whereby it is ensured that the blood sample fits the tube system, something which may have very serious consequences for the quality of the blood samples when arriving at the receiver station.